Meet new Syracuse Crunch assistant coach Mike Stapleton (Podcast)

A press conference today at the Onondaga County War Memorial will formally introduce Mark Holick and Mike Stapleton as the new coaching staff for the Syracuse Crunch.

By the way, the public is welcome at the press conference that starts at Noon and will have Syracuse Crunch President and C.E.O Howard Dolgon, Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney, and Anaheim Ducks General Manager Bob Murray also in attendance.

Might not be a bad way to break up the usual ho-hum of the lunch hour.

Before Stapleton takes a step up to the microphone at the presser today, he joined me "On the Block" on The Score 1260 yesterday to talk about his new gig in Syracuse.

Like Holick, Stapleton is a rookie at the AHL coaching level, and both come from the Canadian Hockey League.

What does he anticipate his biggest challenge to be making the transition from the OHL to the AHL?

"Well. I imagine the age difference. We dealt with kids who were from 15-20. Now, all of sudden, the kids are from 20-30 and they are pros on their own with different experiences. But, you know what, I've been through that. I have some experience in that and hopefully the transition won't be long and we can jump in with both feet and away we go."

Listen as Stapleton also talks about what kind of team he expects Anaheim to build for Syracuse and what it means for Chicago to win a Stanley Cup after a 49-year drought. Stapleton played for the Blackhawks (one of 7 NHL stops for Mike in 697 NHL games) as did his father, Pat, a defenseman for Chicago from 1965-73 and a member of two Stanley Cup losing teams.